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Pukeko Pictures strikes deal with Chinese production house for new series

Pukeko Pictures has finalised a deal to work alongside Chinese production house Grand Entertainment to produce a new global kids TV show.

The Wellington-based company – who created the successful WotoWots series – will work alongside the Chinese production house on Apple Dog’s Adventure, a live-action puppet-based series.

The main character in the series is based on a popular series of Chinese books, which tells the story of a dog with a magical apple growing from the end of its tail that teaches simple life lessons.

“It is not going to employ a lot of people here. It will be fairly small from that aspect but for our purpose it is about understanding the Chinese market, how things are done at a production level, then being able to collaborate with the Chinese on something we actually believe could be a very exciting show,” said Pukeko Pictures chief executive Andrew Smith.

“We’ll be giving them knowledge around special effects, puppet techniques, how to manufacture puppets, what colours to use, giving them feedback on how we think their designs will work.

“The Chinese are obviously very keen to have their shows travel outside China and have people around the world seeing them. . . . that’s somewhat difficult for them . . . when they are sort of emerging in the media space.”

The WotWots began screening in China last year thanks to Grand Entertainment.